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WASHINGTON—U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself Thursday from federal investigations related to the 2016 election campaign, including a probe of interactions between the Russian government and associates of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Sessions’ decision came the afternoon after the Washington Post revealed he had misled the Senate when he said under oath that he “did not have any communications with the Russians” during the campaign. In fact, he had at least two meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Sessions insisted at a Thursday news conference that his answer had been “honest.” But he conceded under questioning that he should have disclosed he had met “one Russian official a couple of times.”

The uproar surrounding Sessions, who was a prominent Trump campaign adviser, is only the latest development in a sprawling Russia controversy that has alternated between a simmer and a blaze throughout Trump’s entire six-week-old presidency. Sessions is at least the second top Trump appointee to become engulfed by criticism over his inaccurate claims related to contact with Kislyak.

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The other one, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, resigned in February.

Attorney General Jeff on Thursday announced his recusal from overseeing an investigation into contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. (DOUG MILLS / New York Times)

Sessions brushed aside top Democrats’ Thursday calls for his own resignation, and Trump said he thought Sessions had “probably” been truthful in his testimony. Sessions said he was recusing himself only because he had been involved in Trump’s campaign, implying his January remarks were not a factor.

Regardless, the revelation that he deceived Congress adds more fuel to unproven suspicions that Trump is attempting to conceal something about his relationship with Russia and President Vladimir Putin. And the withdrawal of the nation’s top law enforcement official from a major investigation deepens the appearance of disarray from an administration that was briefly buoyed by Trump’s well-received speech to Congress on Tuesday.

The attorney general is the country’s chief legal official, and he may have lied to Congress under oath. Before the recusal, the conversations with Kislyak put him in an apparent conflict of interest: the director of the FBI reports to him. And whether it was a lie, an evasion or an unintentional memory lapse, his decision not to tell Congress he had spoken to the ambassador added concerns that something improper transpired.

U.S. President Donald Trump says he has "total" confidence in Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as calls mount for Sessions to resign or recuse himself over his contact with a Russian envoy during last year's presidential campaign.

What are the key questions about Trump and Russia?

Did Trump have anything to do with, or know about, Russia’s alleged intervention in the election to help him? Did Trump direct his associates to communicate with Russian officials during the campaign, or know those communications were happening? What exactly did Trump associates say to Russian officials? Does Russia have any information that could blackmail or otherwise weaken Trump?

So who is investigating what?

Multiple U.S. intelligence agencies are conducting a joint probe into the alleged Russian interference in the election, which they believe involved the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman. One of the things they are studying, according to the New York Times, is communication between Trump associates and the Russian government.

The Senate and House intelligence committees are conducting their own separate probes into the alleged Russian meddling.

Some Democrats have advocated an investigation by an independent commission. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Thursday for a special prosecutor from outside the Department of Justice.

Is there proof that Trump did anything wrong?

None that we know of.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions agreed Thursday to recuse himself from an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, saying he believes 'the proper decision has been reached.'

So why is there so much talk about all this?

There is no public smoking gun. There is, however, a collection of facts that has prompted suspicion among Democrats and others.

Trump has effusively praised and aggressively defended Putin. His campaign team, largely hands-off when it came to the Republican policy platform, intervened to soften the platform’s support of Ukraine.

During the campaign, Trump publicly urged Russian hackers to obtain Clinton’s emails. After U.S. intelligence and independent experts later concluded that Russia had indeed hacked the Democrats, Trump dismissed and disparaged them.

Flynn discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with Kislyak, told Vice-President Mike Pence he had not done so, then resigned after the Washington Post revealed the truth. Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has long-standing ties to Russia, and he resigned from the campaign after allegations that he had received millions in cash from Ukraine’s former pro-Russia president.

Was it wrong for Sessions to meet the Russian ambassador?

Not necessarily. He was a U.S. senator, and he met many ambassadors. But the context raises questions about what went on.

One of the meetings was held in September 2016, the month before U.S. intelligence officially accused Russia of doing the hacking. While Sessions said the meeting was not about the campaign, all 25 other members of the Armed Services Committee told the Post they did not meet with Kislyak in 2016. On Thursday, Sessions said Ukraine “somehow” came up in the conversation; he did not elaborate.

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